Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, March 1, 2007

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An announcement by Airbus on Thursday that it has suspended work on a freighter version of its A380 superjumbo could open the door for The Boeing Co. to sell more of its biggest freighter that is in development.

United Parcel Service is the only remaining customer for the A380 freighter, and it could now turn to Boeing and the new 747-8 freighter, according to industry analysts and air cargo experts.

"I don't have any inside information, but I would forecast that UPS will order a mix of 747-8 and 777 freighters sometime this year," said Ned Laird, managing director of the Air Cargo Management Group, an aviation consulting and research firm in Seattle.

By postponing further development on the A380 freighter, Airbus can shift resources to the A380 passenger plane. Delivery of that model is two years late and has resulted in serious financial problems for Airbus, which announced this week it is cutting 10,000 jobs over the next four years as part of a restructuring plan to be more competitive.

Last month, UPS surprised many in the industry by ordering 27 Boeing 767 freighters. While helping UPS with capacity to meet cargo growth, the order allows Boeing to keep 767 production going at the Everett plant until it can start building 767 tankers for the U.S. Air Force -- assuming it wins that competition.

"Boeing and UPS have a long-term profitable relationship," Laird said. "That's why I'd bet there will be a large UPS order from Boeing sooner rather than later to meet their growth requirements."

UPS has been a longtime Boeing 747 customer and still has eight of those planes on order. The Atlanta-based company would not say what it will do now that Airbus has postponed work on the A380 freighter. A spokesman described the freight giant as "surprised" by the Airbus announcement.

Last month, UPS and Airbus said they had agreed that either party could cancel the UPS order for 10 freighters.

In a regulatory filing Thursday, UPS said it would have taken delivery of the Airbus freighters between 2012 and 2013, according to a report from Bloomberg News.

Industry analysts have predicted for some time that UPS would cancel its order because of the A380 delays.

UPS was supposed to take delivery of its first A380 freighters in 2009.

Airbus has been developing the A380 freighter and passenger models in tandem. That's unusual for a new airplane program. Typically, the passenger plane comes first, followed several years later by the freighter.

Boeing, for example, launched development of a 777 freighter only last year, even though the passenger plane has been in service since 1995.

In addition to the new 777 freighter, Boeing is developing the 747-8 freighter, as well as a passenger version known as the 747-8 Intercontinental. The 747-8 will be longer than the current version of the 747 and will use the fuel-efficient engines developed for the 787 Dreamliner.

The 747-8 freighter has sold well since Boeing began development of the plane a year ago.

Boeing has had the upper hand over Airbus when it comes to the freighter market. Airbus sold more passenger planes than Boeing from 2000 until last year, when Boeing finally won the order battle. But Boeing has the better lineup of freighters, according to most industry experts. Airbus only recently announced that it is developing a freighter version of its popular A330.

Airbus announced in June 2001 that it was developing the A380 freighter with a 10-plane order from FedEx. The first freighter was supposed to be delivered to FedEx in mid-2008. Then Airbus announced a series of delays, and last November FedEx canceled its A380 order. Instead, it ordered 15 Boeing 777 freighters.

Next, International Lease Finance Corp. canceled its order for five A380 freighters and said it would take five of the passenger models instead. That left Airbus with only the remaining 10-plane order from UPS.

Laird, the air cargo executive, said he believes Airbus eventually will develop a freighter version of the A380, but it will be based on a stretched version of the plane known as the A380-900.

The A380-900 will make a better freighter than the smaller plane, Laird said, but don't expect UPS or FedEx to be waiting in line to order it.

Meanwhile, Boeing has won orders for 15 more jetliners, bringing its order total for the year to 64 planes. The most recent orders, posted on Boeing's Web site Thursday, were for two 737s, six 767s and seven 787s.

That gave Boeing 51 firm orders for February, worth about $8 billion at list prices. Those orders include the 27 767s ordered by UPS.

Airbus had 90 firm orders through January, but has not yet said how many planes it sold in February.